As NCP Split Shifts 'Balance of Pawar', Bengaluru Oppn Meet to Now Focus on BJP's Machinations

The host Congress shifted the venue of the second joint opposition meeting from Shimla to Bengaluru while riding high on its success in the recent state polls. But this high has now been tempered by the Nationalist Congress Party split in Maharashtra.

Sources say before the NCP crisis, the main focus of the opposition meeting was on deciding the framework of a common minimum programme and developing a slogan against the Bharatiya Janata Party for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections where the spotlight would be on the “caste census, attack on freedom of expression, political witch hunt of rivals, and misuse of the ED and CBI”.

But now, they say the July 17-18 meeting will focus on how political parties will be targeted and the BJP will try to poach and split them. When both Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi spoke to Sharad Pawar, they reassured him that everyone would be together in this and it would also be the issue on which the opposition parties would target the BJP.

Sources say the meeting will make this the core issue and also work on a strategy to ensure that the constituents of the opposition front don’t split. In fact, Rahul Gandhi raised the point that “as elections will come close and if the Congress wins state polls, the BJP will try everything to ensure that we split. Legitimately elected governments will be attempted to be toppled”.

A worry has been raised that it could be Bihar next as some BJP leaders have already gone on record to indicate this.

And this is something the opposition parties need to put their heads together to fight. If Sharad Pawar sinks, so might the rest. And, hence, the Bengaluru session has its task cut out.